Just came across a cool web site on energy from the Marcellus Shale, produced by Penn State Public Broadcasting with funding help from the Colcom Foundation. Here's how it looks:

The site basically is an informational graphic whose features explain how hydraulic fracturing is used to produce energy from shale. Key questions are located at strategic points in the graphic. Click on one and the box opens up to the answer. If you've got a question that's not addressed, you can use a form on the site to submit it. Click on the text-only shortcut in the toolbar and you get all the site questions together, with a glossary nearby.

My favorite thing about the site is that it illustrates how deep a typical natural gas well is and how unlikely it is for fracking fluids injected into the shale to mig... more »

That's how Pennsylvania's top environmental official responds when someone raises concerns about using hydraulic fracturing to produce natural gas from shale. The Erie Times-News reports:

Pennsylvania's top environmental enforcement official said some of the concerns raised about hydraulic fracturing and gas drilling in the Marcellus Shale leave him shaking his head. "I don't know where it's coming from," said Michael Krancer, secretary of the state Department of Environmental Protection. Krancer, who spoke Wednesday afternoon to about 100 members and guests of the Rotary Club of Erie, called the Marcellus Shale "a blessing under our feet if we do it right." It's up to DEP, he acknowledged, to make certain drilling is done correctly.

Pennsylvania is working on a number of initiatives to im... more »

People in Williamsport, Pa., have an easy explanation for city's current economic bloom: natural gas from shale.

The city in the state's center, perhaps best known for hosting the annual Little League World Series, once was a thriving lumber center but in recent decades had seen economic decline. Now natural gas production, using hydraulic fracturing to tap the Marcellus Shale formation, has transformed it into one of the fastest growing communities in the country. Here's a video that captures Williamsport's story:

The Altoona (PA) Mirror has an interview with former Columbus Zoo director/TV personality Jack Hanna in which Hanna gives two thumbs up for producing natural gas from shale. Yeah, that Jack Hanna - the tanned, khaki-clad zoo guy familiar to most for appearing on Letterman with amusing exotic animals.

According to the newspaper, Hanna is a proponent of getting natural gas from shale. The story noted that hydraulic fracturing is conducted next door to The Wilds conservation center where Hanna frequently appears, located on 10,000 acres of reclaimed mine land in southeastern Ohio. "I have no problem with Marcellus Shale," he told the Mirror. "We need the resource, and we can't be captives to our environment."

Hanna makes a couple of important points and helps illustrate another. The country n... more »

A recurring theme during API's hydraulic fracturing workshop this week was industry's need to be a "good neighbor" to communities where natural gas development is planned or already under way. A panel of state regulators mentioned it, as did some non-industry observers and others. Transparency, communication, community awareness. Not just to be seen as a good neighbor, but to actually be one.

Message received.

The fact is API's comprehensive slate of standards and industry practices includes guidelines to help operators function in concert with the people who own natural gas leases. (See Annex A to Standard 51R.) Most companies recognize the need for such a relationship. Those operating in the Marcellus Shale region say relationship building includes not only those from whom leases are ob... more »